Women Behind Bars
Encyclopedia
Tom Eyen
Tom Eyen was an American playwright, lyricist, television writer and theatre director.Eyen is best known for works at opposite ends of the theatrical spectrum...
.
A camp
Camp (style)
Camp is an aesthetic sensibility that regards something as appealing because of its taste and ironic value. The concept is closely related to kitsch, and things with camp appeal may also be described as being "cheesy"...
spoof of the exploitation films produced by Universal
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
, Warner's
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
, and Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....
in the 1950s, this black comedy
Black comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
is set in the Women's House of Detention in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
. Among the range of social and psychological types imprisoned within its walls are an innocent young woman (framed by her husband on a charge of armed robbery), who is brutalized, betrayed and sexually assaulted
Sexual assault
Sexual assault is an assault of a sexual nature on another person, or any sexual act committed without consent. Although sexual assaults most frequently are by a man on a woman, it may involve any combination of two or more men, women and children....
throughout her eight years of incarceration (she is ultimately broken by the system and leaves jail a hard-edged, gum-chomping drug dealer), a chain-smoking, gum-snapping street-wise tough girl, and a delicate Southern belle
Southern belle
A southern belle is an archetype for a young woman of the American Old South's upper class....
reminiscent of Blanche DuBois. Lording over all is the sadistic matron and her tough-as-nails sidekick.
The subtle hints of lesbianism found in the original B-movies are played broadly for laughs throughout. The New York Times described it as "an extraordinarily interesting work from one of America's most innovative and versatile playwrights." http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9504E5DD173BF934A15756C0A962948260 The play has been translated into Hebrew http://www.proz.com/pro/99490, and Eyen and Devine wrote a 1978 sequel called The Neon Woman that was produced in San Francisco.
The original production at the off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
Astor Place Theatre
Astor Place Theatre
The Astor Place Theatre is an off-Broadway house located at 434 Lafayette Street in the NoHo section of Manhattan. The theater is located in the historic Colonnade Row, originally constructed in 1831 as a series of nine connected buildings, of which only four remain...
opened on May 1, 1975 with a cast headed by Pat Ast, Helen Hanft, Mary-Jennifer Mitchell and Sharon Barr.. It was revived the following year at the Truck and Warehouse Theatre with Pink Flamingos
Pink Flamingos
Pink Flamingos is a 1972 transgressive black comedy film written, produced, composed, shot, edited, and directed by John Waters. When the film was initially released, it caused a huge degree of controversy and thus became one of the most notorious cult films ever made. It made an underground star...
star Divine (Glen Milstead) as the matron. It quickly developed a cult following
Cult following
A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...
and became a success. Secondary productions in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
enjoyed extended runs and it was revived in Los Angeles nine years later in a Roxy Theatre
Roxy Theatre
The Roxy Theatre is located in the historic downtown section of Clarksville, Tennessee in the United States. Standing on a corner of the Public Square it offers live theater shows to the public offering a wide variety of selection in the spirit of literary theater...
production featuring Lu Leonard and Adrienne Barbeau
Adrienne Barbeau
Adrienne Jo Barbeau is an American actress and the author of three books. Barbeau came to prominence in the 1970s as Broadway's original Rizzo in the musical Grease, and as Carol Traynor, the divorced daughter of Maude Findlay in the sitcom Maude...
. It remains a popular choice of gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
repertory companies, such as San Francisco's Theatre Rhinoceros
Theatre Rhinoceros
Theatre Rhinoceros or Theatre Rhino is a gay and lesbian theatre based in San Francisco. It was founded in the spring of 1977 by Lanny Baugniet and his partner Allan B. Estes, Jr....
.